Trehalose is a known non-reducing disaccharide composed of D+glucose units. It is a white, odorless, sweet-tasting powder and, like maltose, is about 45% as sweet as sugar and has a very low hydroscopicity (moisture attraction). Trehalose is found in honey, bread, beer and seafood and there are several prior art patents relating to various uses of trehalose. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,839,164 discloses cosmetic compositions containing trehalose which increase the penetration of certain therapeutically beneficial ingredients into the skin thereby enhancing the therapeutic effects of those ingredients on the skin. The trehalose is used in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and several trehalose-containing formulations are disclosed in said patent, such as shampoo formulations, hair-conditioning formulations, skin care gel formulations, lotions, and skin care creams.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,543,513 discloses the use of anhydrous trehalose as a desiccant for dehydrating various products such as dehydrated food as well as dehydrated pharmaceuticals. High-quality food products having reduced moisture content can be prepared by incorporating anhydrous trehalose into food products having relatively high moisture content thereby converting the anhydrous trehalose into hydrous crystalline trehalose.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,555,526 discloses an ophthalmic pharmaceutical composition comprising trehalose as the effective ingredient. As disclosed in said patent, there are three types of optical isomers of trehalose, i.e., ∝, ∝-trehalose, ∝, β-trehalose and β, β-trehalose. All isomers exert therapeutic and/or prophylactic effect on signs of Sjorgen syndrome.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,723,170 discloses a crystalline trehalose dihydrate with low hydroscopicity. Variety of uses are disclosed for the crystalline trehalose dihydrate, including its use as a sweetener, taste-improving agent, in feeds and pet foods for animals, in soaps, skin creams, body shampoos, hair creams, moisture-controlling agent and a host of other uses disclosed in said patent.
Notwithstanding a variety of uses of trehalose disclosed in the prior art patents, none of them recognize the efficacy of trehalose for use in topical drying composition. In a commonly assigned, copending application Ser. No. 12/214,863 filed Jun. 24, 2008, there is described a topical drying composition containing an effective amount of trehalose, in hydrous or anhydrous form. The composition described therein, whether in aqueous solution form or a cream, when applied to the area of the skin which is vulnerable to perspiration, was effective in drying the perspiration resulting from aerobic or other vigorous sweat-producing exercises. The aforementioned copending application discloses several trehalose-containing formulations which are effective topical drying compositions. Neither of the prior art patents, nor the aforementioned patent application disclose the use of encapsulated trehalose in formulations used for topical drying compositions and sweat removal.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to use encapsulated trehalose in topical drying compositions.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a more effective drying composition which includes encapsulated trehalose as the effective ingredient for sweat removal.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a topical drying composition which contains encapsulated trehalose and known aluminum compounds used in lesser quantities than have heretofore been used in the prior art sweat removing drying compositions using only known aluminum compounds.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide a method of using these compositions for topical drying and sweat removal.
The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be appreciated from the ensuing detailed description and the illustrative examples.